We’re massive fans of the TiVo Stream. While imperfect, it truly offers the best way to beam your live and recorded television around the home…. assuming you have both a TiVo Premiere of some sort and an iDevice end-point. And so it shall remain for Android owners in the foreseeable future. RCN, a TiVo MSO partner, has soft launched TiVo Stream rentals – running a reasonable $5/month (given the $130 retail price point). As a discussion side note, it was mentioned that “Android support is coming, but not anytime soon.” Of course, Android has always taken a bit of a back seat to the iPhones and iPads for TiVo – which we assume has been both something of a strategic decision and a technological concern related to Google beefing up the platform’s security (as TiVo mentioned at CES). So the TiVo app might make it’s way to Android 4.2 later this month, but it’ll be some time before my Kindle Fire HD receives TiVo Stream capabilities.
This sucks. I have many Android devices around my house and I would buy a Tivo Stream in a minute if it supported Android. I wonder if TiVo is afraid of the many cheap (40$-90$) Android HDMI sticks that are available (check ebay or amazon). A TiVo Stream + Cheap Android Stick gives you almost all of the functionality of a TiVo mini (minus the subscription fee or lifetime fee)
The Stream is a non-starter in my house unless there is Android support. I really do want one, but have no use for it as I’m not buying an iOS device just to use it.
Is $5 reasonable? I don’t get the logic in paying $5 in perpetuity instead of $130 upfront. Unless you’re assuming before you pay $130 in rental fees that new tech and devices are out.
It’s a reasonable rate knowing that cable companies generally “rent” equipment and in light of the MSRP. It’s also reasonable that if you’re not using it after a month or so, you just give it back. Or if it breaks, you ask for a replacement. Of course, folks in the know wanting to hang onto this for 2 years or more would be better off buying it in retail. Also, I’d say it’s highly likely that at some point the upcoming Pace TiVo DVR, that contains the same Broadcom chip capable of onboard transcoding found in the DISH Sling Hopper, will ultimately result in one less box to achieve this streaming functionality.
I could definitely see the advantage of a rental. If you don’t need streaming around the house, pay $5 before a trip and offload your content to the IOS device. Of course I think RCN has everything copy once so streaming is the only option.
@Brennok,
It is my understanding that RCN is very TiVo friendly from a copy freely perspective -> http://www.missingremote.com/forums/cable-provider-copy-protection-switched-digital-video-and-self-install-status-master-list
Also, its a bit unclear whether a RCN customer is able to buy a Stream at retail and connect it to an RCN Premiere-Q. I know they allowed this after launch of the Stream but there was some nebulous language used. You would think that, similar to buying a cable modem, a user would be able to provide his own equipment but who knows.
Damn you!! I got excited for a split second until I read the rest of the title.
I want to type so many swear words after reading this article. However, my takeaway is they don’t want my money, so I’m not going to give it to them.
I was considering getting a mini, but I don’t want to give them the $250 for it – my old S3 w/ lifetime works just fine, in conjunction with my Premiere 4 XL.
Sometimes I think that TiVo is ran by a guy with ties to the cable industry and much of the same attitude towards product development.
Grande Communications also sells and rents the Streams. I talked with someone there “in the know” about the Stream’s support of Android and they also confirmed that they don’t have a date on when they will support Android. Deal breaker for many I’m sure…
yet another reason I am not buying into the new TiVo stuff. They really need to tighten up on delivering a full product
@Sam I purchased mine at Best Buy just before Xmas, and hooked it up to my home network with the Tivo preimier / Q on it, works great, but I keep wanting the Android app. This is basically the ONLY reason I still have my original iPad hanging around.